Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[nomadic_leader]

Yeah, I've taken a look at both - NAEV feels way too much like some pimply dork's first sci-fi novel and neither one is really visually appealing to me. I might give Endless Sky another shot - I wonder how easy it would be to fix the terrible UI?

Haha good description of NAEV.  And yes Endless Sky's interface and shortcut keys are pretty messed up. I agree that the ship graphics tend to all be gray, indistinguishable, and not that cool, which is uninteresting (the original EV had really simple yet distinctive ship design).

But you have to appreciate, as symptomatic of the American loss of optimism since the 90s, that whereas in Escape Velocity you jump into a shuttle craft with 10k credits and the joyful promise of unlimited adventure, in Endless Sky you start in a bank signing yourself into crippling loan debt  to get your first ship and then you have to work like a dog just to keep your head above water.

[Harmful Mechanic]

I don't know that that's indicative of a cultural shift so much as attempts at deeper and more complete economic modeling. Lots of the early space games and the SF that inspired them (like Merchanter's Luck) were pretty punishing when it came to scraping up the credits to keep your ship flying. EV just has a kind of crappy and incomplete economic model, and that's fine.

[Massimo]

VoidExpanse is alright, pretty but lacking in depth and the single ship combat felt very twitchy since everything dies so fast: http://store.steampowered.com/app/324260/

Found this on Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=513945382

Looks very interesting, if the feature list is delivered.

Oh, Rebel Galaxy is releasing soon, its a 3D spacesim, but on a 2D plane. Very pretty graphics, not sure about other aspects yet.

[gruberscomplete]

Flash trek broken mirrors.

[Draba]

Not exactly a carbon copy, but a very nice space game with a similar feel: X3 Reunion.

The gameplay is much more complex, it has a finished trading and automation system
so you can actually build an empire with your own production/military in addition to single ship/fleet shenanigans.
Downside is it has a massive learning curve, you have to put ~3 hours in just to get familiar with the basic controls.

If you decide to try it go for the bonus pack that contains all the expansions(Terran Conflict, Albion Prelude) and
some of the most useful community mods. If it's not for you visit the Kingdom's End and Heaven's Assertion sectors
before uninstalling, they have gorgeous environments with nice music. Also, stay away from X Rebirth at all costs

[Serenitis]

Flash trek broken mirrors.

Oh damn... I remember this.
Tooling around the ST mirror universe trying to claim as much of it for yourself as possible.

I first played it on a machine that could barely run a flash container like that, and I steamrolled the entire galaxy.
Then I got a decent one that could run it at full speed and I was rubbish at it and could hardly get anywhere.
This game is really good, but is hard as nails if you're not a twitch gamer.

link

[Massimo]

There's two recent space-genre games on Steam, just released.

Ceres:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/351300

Beyond Sol:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/348490/

[gruberscomplete]

Flash trek broken mirrors.

Oh damn... I remember this.
Tooling around the ST mirror universe trying to claim as much of it for yourself as possible.

I first played it on a machine that could barely run a flash container like that, and I steamrolled the entire galaxy.
Then I got a decent one that could run it at full speed and I was rubbish at it and could hardly get anywhere.
This game is really good, but is hard as nails if you're not a twitch gamer.

link

Personally my problems with this game were: allied ships in fleet not fighting, and sometimes the game didn't save.
But other than that I loved how you could have your own planet and just build stations, have an army of ships that defended your base when you weren't there and would follow you around. Plus capturing some random ship you could pretend to be a pirate or join a faction, and help them during invasions.

[Camael]

A wee bit wonky and somewhat ancient, Starscape does not have fleet combat, but as single-ship and upgrade games go it's pretty nice. Interesting gameplay-mechanics in that one. Should be available on steam now.

Another one You can get for free per steam is the sunrider-series. No real-time combat and flying, but fleet management and rather well done tactical combat. Though... story and presentation clearly show it is descendant of an anime-dating-sim idea... ahum.

[TJJ]

Weird Worlds : Return to Infinite Space. (and its precursor Strange Adventures in Infinite Space)

Rogue Lite, with very (strategically) simplistic 2D combat.

The combat is really the only similarity to SS, and I suppose the ability to customize your ship.
Still it's a good game, and with some cool hidden endings/secrets that require both a strong game & the conjunction of multiple random events.

[Psigun]

Rebel Galaxy will scratch the itch while waiting for the next Star Sector release the best imo

It's quite a fun little game and while it's more similar to Freelancer, it fits the bill close enough.

[Midnight Kitsune]

Rebel Galaxy will scratch the itch while waiting for the next Star Sector release the best imo

It's quite a fun little game and while it's more similar to Freelancer, it fits the bill close enough.

How are the system requirements versus SS? More? Less? About the same? Does it need an OP vid card?

[agigabyte]

* it's sort of like throwing x number of fleets together and watching the fireworks while occaisionally moving something here or using an ability there - you may or may not find this to your liking

Or you can get a faster paced mod like Sins of the Prophets.

[mitthrawnuruodo]

How are the system requirements versus SS? More? Less? About the same? Does it need an OP vid card?

Its not particularly system intensive. It can run on 100+ fps in max settings, 1080p on my 2 year old 780M laptop .

[Midnight Kitsune]

How are the system requirements versus SS? More? Less? About the same? Does it need an OP vid card?

Its not particularly system intensive. It can run on 100+ fps in max settings, 1080p on my 2 year old 780M laptop .

Got a five year old Lenovo G550 that I play SS on